Timberwolves Making Strides, Albeit Baby Steps

I’m sure a lot of Minnesota Timberwolves fans were disappointed by the team blowing a 21-point lead Wednesday night en route to an overtime home loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Is Timberwolves president David Kahn a mad genius, or just plain mad? Associated Press photo

I still have some doubts as to whether or not a foul should have been called on that Spurs’ 3-point attempt in the final seconds of regulation. The ensuing free throws allowedÂ San Antonio to tie the game and send it to overtime.

But forget about that. They may have blown the game so to speak. But I still see some things I like:

As I’ve blogged about before, Kevin Love is an absolute force on the glass, and he’s not a bad scorer either. Plenty of players have made a good living averaging 19 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, as Love has so far this season.

Timberwolves president David Kahn became a punchline in the offseason after re-signing Darko Milicic to a four-year, $20 million contract. But Milicic has not been too bad. He’s tied for first in the NBA in blocks, averaging 2.9 per game. And in the last three games, it seems like something has clicked with him. He’s scored at least 20 points in each of those games, shooting over 50 percent from the floor in each. How about Milicic repeatedly posting up against Tim Duncan? Hook shot after hook shot. Didn’t expect to see that.

Wesley Johnson, who was drafted fourth overall in the 2010 NBA draft, has been a nice addition so far. He’s averaging nearly 10 points per game this season and given the team the long-range shooting that they were lacking last season. Still plenty of room for improvement, notably with his pre-free throw handshakes.

And finally, there’s Michael Beasley. He’s averaged 21 points and 6 rebounds per game. Great numbers on the surface. But then there’s games like the one Wednesday night against the Spurs, where you forgot he was in the game when he wasn’t throwing the ball into the front row, which he did a couple of times I believe. Still, Kahn got a pretty good price.

Today is the 25th anniversary of North Dakota potato growers leaving 23 tons of potatoes on the front yard of former New York Yankees star Yogi Berra. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go here.Â (Hat tip to Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog for this one. See link at right.)